Replicas & Editions: The National WWII Memorial - Bas Reliefs

The Story:Nearly 400 visions for the monumental World War II Memorial were submitted in the first round of a Design Competition held by The American Battle Monuments Commission. Only six designs were chosen to move on to the second round, which would be judged by a highly qualified Design Jury. The sculptor, Raymond Kaskey, who's team did not make it to the second round, was asked by the winning architect, Friedrich St. Florian, to create all of the sculptural elements that would reside within the memorial according to the winning design.

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Kaskey, along with his team of three sculptors, created detailed sculptures of bronze eagles holding laurel wreaths in the two large arches that adorn either end of the memorial representing the Atlantic and Pacific fronts. They created the bronze adornments for all 56 pillars, representing the states and territories that made up the United States at the end of the war in 1945, and 4,048 starts, each representing 100 American deaths, to adorn the Freedom Wall, which states "Here we mark the price of freedom".

Inspired by the terra cotta frieze which runs around the outside of the National Building Museum depicting a parade of Civil War military units, Kaskey and his team also designed and created 24 bas-reliefs that represent the transformation of America due to total immersion in the war. Twelve reliefs run along each of the North and South walls, which frame the ceremonial entrance to the memorial and depict such key battlefront events and the D-Day landings at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge as well as scenes from the home front including Aircraft Construction, Agriculture and families listening to the news of Pearl Harbor on the radio.return to full slide show

The Challenge:Capture the artist's original plaster depicting a scene from the Battle of the Bulge complete with all the intricate details to produce an accurate digital model that can be scaled for rapid prototyping and bronze casting. return to full slide showThe Solution: